US obstacles to Prensa Latina undermine freedom of speech

For more than two years, and without just cause, U.S. authorities have been delaying the delivery of visas to journalists working at the UN since 2017, and in the case of correspondents in Washington D.C., who traveled to Cuba in 2019, they still have not received permission to be able to return and resume work there.

“Those actions against (the Latin American news agency) Prensa Latina violate the obligations of the U.S. government as the host country of the UN, since it has commitments such as accrediting the foreign press covering the events and the diplomats attending the events,” the Colombian researcher said .

“But above all, it is a battle for freedom of expression,” Calvo Ospina added, “for the right to inform and for what the UN represents, whose convention determines that the United States must allow entry to journalists without restrictions.”

“The problem is that the government in Washington does not have the slightest idea of what freedom of expression and freedom of the press mean”, and he encouraged “not to give up this battle and to continue fighting for a claim that is of justice” so that Cuban journalists can continue to carry out their work before a multinational organization such as the UN.